Original Koffee is ready for this moment. The GRAMMY-winning singer is gearing up to drop her first LP, the long-awaited Gifted, later this month. With no album features, the 22-year-old Jamaican artist is making a bold statement that she can stand alone.

“But can I really?'' Koffee questions, laughing over a Zoom call from Manhattan — one of the many stops in her packed promotional schedule. “You can take it that way but I would've had to have the confidence or the arrogance enough to say that yo, yeah, I can stand on my own, and I don’t need anybody." 

After two long years of pandemic grief, confusion and career delays, Koffee has a strong sense of self and a sound mind; a relief her younger self could’ve only wished for at a time when things were moving faster than she ever could’ve imagined.  

Born Mikayla Simpson, Koffee rose to fame in 2017 at age 17 with a tribute song to Usain Bolt. She skyrocketed into the public eye after Bolt reposted her song, then followed up with singles like "Burning" and "Raggamuffin." 

By 18, Koffee had signed a record deal with Columbia UK and released Rapture, a five-song EP. The 2020 record earned Koffee a GRAMMY for Best Reggae Album, making her the youngest artist to win in the category. There seemed to be no stopping Koffee's full-forced launch — until the pandemic slowed everything down. But that break was for the better in Koffee's eyes.  

Now, having weathered the pandemic and simultaneously signed to Columbia UK and RCA Records, the Caribbean singjay is ultimately well-rested, refreshed and ready to take the reins of her trajectory. In addition to the debut of Gifted on March 25, Koffee secured a guest spot on Harry Styles' Latin American tour, is setting up for her Coachella inauguration, and will have her own headlining North American tour.

Now a young adult, Koffee has a more powerful sense of her direction and her desired musical echo. With a focus on progressive roots reggae style, the 10-track Gifted is acoustic bliss: a melodic fusion of reggae, dancehall, Afrobeat, neo-soul, R&B and hip-hop. 

Koffee’s choppy ad-libs add instantaneous intensity to songs like "Defend," which discusses topics like the persecution of individuals with dreadlocks. On the album's title track, Koffee offers a prediction of her destiny — its lyrics not born of prophecy, though her mom always told her that she would be great. 

Wherever the winds may blow her, Koffee is open to the journey, just as long as she has her live band along for the ride —  inside the studio and on stage. GRAMMY.com conversed with Koffee about her first album, what it means to be Gifted, and her upcoming tours.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How are you, and where are you in the world right now? How is your schedule?

I'm in Manhattan. My schedule is great; it’s packed but in a good way. That's a good problem to have, especially coming up to an album release. It is a lot of work, but I know it will pay off. It's packed with a lot of good radio stations and platforms, so it is good to link up with all of them. [My mental health] is okay. I would say I've found ways to cope and deal with everything I think, just like everybody else. 

How did winning a GRAMMY off of an EP help prepare you for your first official album?

It opened me up to different experiences. I have been able to see things that I probably would not be able to see before otherwise. As for the project, it just kind of flows naturally. I don’t think I’m the kind of person to allow the win to affect how the music flows. There are some new producers. A lot of the producers on the project I had been working with before, from the early stages. Some of the songs were made a long time ago; like a few years ago.

Are you still living in Jamaica?

Yes. I leave Jamaica to go to different places for short periods, and then I go back home. So it's like the UK, and places in the US.

The Harry Styles tour, Coachella, and your North American tour! Those are three huge things — which are you most excited about?

I am super excited for them all, but I would say I am most excited about my tour because of how extensive it is and how many of my fans I will interact with, just over the length of it. I start touring on April 22. I think I cover 26 or 27 cities. I hope to see everybody at least once.

What have you been doing that has most prepared you for this tour besides rehearsal? 

The different things I have been able to learn over a period of time have strengthened my mind. I think almost everything you do has a lot to do with the strength of mind and your headspace. I feel like I’ve had a lot of time to develop that.

Going into the tour, I am at a steady pace in my head, which will help me conquer whatever comes. I was like that for the most part, and I got a little bit of tour experience before this. Not headlining, but I was able to use that [experience] and add to it more.

Can you talk about the contrast between being over-protected growing up, to being completely exposed now as a GRAMMY-award-winning musician and celebrity? Those are two completely different lives.

It is a different experience to just kind of be out in the world as opposed to the environment that I would have been used to — going to church, school, and not many other places. I think the exposure has been good. I’ve also learned things that can ground me, so it's like even when I am exposed to new things, I don't get lost in it all. I still have a sense of foundation where I am coming from. 

What was the first gig your mom said yes to in regards to your music career?

She caught on a little early. The first thing…, was a concert I did in my high school. I think I told her about it just before the actual performance, so she never had any choice. So she was like “okay” and I went and did it. That was the moment. She already believed in me by then. It was the things I did at school; those performances, graduation, and different stuff like that. 

What led to the album title, Gifted?

The project is my gift to the world at this moment, but it is also a reminder that once you have life, you are gifted — you must tap into your gift, your talent. It’s about uplifting and positive vibes. 

Was it a theme for Gifted that came to mind first, and then you crafted songs around that? Or did you find that your songs had a theme, and then moved forward with an album?

I think the theme came after; the tracks came about first. The first song I worked on was "X10," which is the first track so it set the tone. All the songs don’t necessarily have the same content as "X10," but it set the pace as the opening track. 

Typically, when I am creating individual songs, I like to listen to beats, feel the vibe and create off of that. I write lyrics and melodies that compliment the track. After that, compiling the album is pretty much trying to make everything gel, but also trying to tell a story.

On “Gifted” and "X10" you mention some sort of prophecy: “mama gave me the prediction, yeah”. What was the prediction?

When I was a kid, my mom always said that I was going to be great. I guess it was because of the way I would behave. She would say because of my attitude, I must have to be great because I can’t behave like that and just be some normal person. 

I think she predicted the strength, quality, and personality I have —  the ability to pull my weight and do my thing out in the world. I think the way she raised me and just what she saw in me, she knew I would find my way.

Do you believe in free will, destiny or both?

Both in a way because being born has nothing to do with free will. But also you can see where choices take you to different destinations, and you get different results. 

What is your relationship or understanding of spirit? 

I grew up in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which is a Christian denomination. We don’t do much. We just kind of study the Bible back to front or front to back. I think I've learned a lot about spirituality from a Christian perspective, but I haven’t learned outside of that religion. 

In the song "Defend," you talk about how “you don’t have to be the government's favorite/you have enough pon your plate, no exaggeration.” What’s on your plate right now? 

My career and balancing my real life, going out on the road, performing, appearing in different places, doing interviews and stuff —  that's on my plate for sure. Having a packed schedule and having to balance and stay grounded, that's on my plate. 

Across the world in general, even in the U.S., you can see cases of police brutality. [On "Defend,”] that's me speaking out for the youth in a way. What I have on my plate in terms of the youth is the responsibility of trying to push a positive message for them. I think it's important to consider the content you put out and how it will impact them. That's just a role I play. 

On "Gifted," you used your voice like a drum. Have you always been into beatboxing? 

I’ve always had musical ideas in my head — instrument patterns. This isn’t the first time I implemented it, but I think it's the first time it sounds so prominent. I recorded the song, I was listening back, we were adding ad-libs, and that just kind of came. I was humming [the beat], and we kept it. You can look forward to a lot more of that for sure. I’ve been a long-time fan of Afrobeat, so a lot of the deliveries that I have and a great part of my influence is from Afrobeat. 

In “Gifted” the song, you talked about how “they can't lock you for your dreadlock.” Were you ever profiled because of your locs?

Not personally, but some years ago in Jamaica, the rastas [were] persecuted. Nowadays, you find a lot more people wearing dreads without being Rastafari. I’m not Rastafari…. I’m just kind of doing my own thing. 

So once you have the dreadlocks, you can get locked up. When [police] lock you up, they can cut off your dreads and stuff like that. It’s literal, and it’s an [example] of how we don’t have full freedom just yet. I can’t remember an experience that particularly made me feel that way, but I can imagine other people experiencing it, and maybe it can happen to me. 

I feel like I have a lot to learn biologically and spiritually about what the meaning of hair is. But, for now, I will just protect it and let it grow — let it be its crown. 

What's your favorite song on the album, and do you think fan-favorite songs will differ by the market? 

My favorite song is "Shine," and then my second favorite song is "Lockdown," and yes! I created the album to touch different markets. Even with my first EP, I had different sounds, so I tried to recreate that. "Pull Up" is Afrobeat-influenced, so I would say in the UK, where they love Afrobeat, and in Afrobeat countries like Nigeria…it would be respected there. 

A song like "Where I’m From" will garner Jamaican fans and yardie people across seas who have Jamaican heritage. I know that "Lonely" will get fans from the lover’s rock fan base; people who love that type of roots reggae vibe; the slow old-time reggae music. I know people my parent's age, and my grandparent's age can appreciate that. The youth and teenagers can appreciate "Shine" across the world because the lyrics are understandable. 

I feel like there was a 333 method you used — the first third of the album was a certain vibe, the next was another, then the closing vibe. What did you set out to achieve on Gifted the album?

I set out to achieve showcasing different sides of my personality; different things I enjoy, experience, and enjoy singing about. I also wanted to tell a story in a way of day to night. The way I start my day and how it flows down to the end. 

You have the first track, "X10," just giving thanks. You say I am glad I woke up today, even if you didn't just wake up, it feels like a fresh start. I get into more serious matters on "Defend" and "Shine," and talk about stuff that is a little bit pertinent to the times. Then I relax it again with some love songs and then you go down into a party vibe, laid back, relax and have fun.

When people come out with their first album, they just usually have a lot of features. No features is not something we see often.

There is somewhat of a tradition when you are coming out with the first project where you want to anchor yourself in a certain way so you bring in as many people as you can get. I don’t believe in doing things that way. 

But I don't think it's good to focus so much on selling [the album] all the time. I can do many other projects; this is just my first project. This is only the beginning. I’m 22, I have the opportunity to do many collabs, do many features; this is just one moment in time.

My presentation in this case is what it is. I would say it’s bold in terms of stepping out of the norm. But I don’t think it’s a statement like I’m trying to make a big move or anything. [Laughs] It's a statement in and of itself, but that will be the statement by itself.

It is a statement that you can stand on your own.

Maybe even with that attitude, I could even end up flopping, so I still don’t know because the project has not dropped yet. So it just comes from a natural place, and we don’t know. We just put it out there the way I saw it; the way that I envisioned it.

How many more albums can we expect on RCA and Columbia UK? About how many tracks were made in total for this album for you to just end up with 10?

You can expect one more album after Gifted on RCA and Columbia UK. 

Some of the tracks were made before, which is something I continuously do. I make the music, record, and just stack tracks. We chose a few based on the progression of what I wanted from earlier times. We did some closer to the time of the release of the album; some band tracks. I wanted to cover working with my band and creating the raw ting from scratch. I got the chance to do that for about three songs from that setup, so yeah, just different times and different ways.

Do you have any other gifts/talents we don’t know about yet? What are you good at?

I play the guitar. I started teaching myself. I got some official lessons from a teacher over the pandemic. That’s pretty much it. 

Black Music Collective Podcast: How Estelle Became A Global R&B And Reggae Icon